The Republicans You Won’t Read About

In recent days, a number of prominent Republicans have made the news by declaring they’re crossing party lines to vote for Barack Obama. One after another, they’ve publicly stated their dissatisfaction with either the ticket, the direction of the GOP, or both — and they’re being pilloried for it.

But the Colin Powells and Christopher Buckleys and Ken Adelmans of the political world are merely the public face of a very real problem for the Republicans.

In fact, the very first Obama supporter I met was a Republican. It was during the primary season, at an Obama “meet and greet” here in Katy — a red corner in the even redder state of Texas. He was, it turned out, only the first of a string of people who introduced themselves that day as Republicans, and I remember thinking how much they all sounded like 12-Steppers:

“Hi, I’m Ralph, and I’m a Republican…”

In the ensuing months, I’ve encountered “Ralph” socially a number of times, and his support has seemingly never wavered. He still considers himself a Republican, and he’s still planning to vote for Obama. But he won’t be making the news.

Then there’s Enrico — a local blogger I noticed during the primaries. He struck me as an extreme “anti-Hillary” vote at the time — hardly a reliable Obama supporter for the general election. I’ve followed his blog over the last six months, and even though his posts ooze venom for the Democrats, he’s also stated that he’s planning to vote for Obama.

A real enigma — so much so that I finally wrote him an email, asking what he’s thinking. He replied (in part):

I used to be a republican, but the party left me. I was a republican because, while I have more in common with true libertarian views, clearly our American libertarian party as currently manifested, has absolutely no chance of getting political power. I believed, apparently mistakenly, that the gop was closer to the ideal of small constrained thrifty limited government.

[...] Hated bill Clinton. Evil! Ditto for hillary. Have become pretty contemptuous of W, but don’t think he’s evil. I voted for carter in 1980, but I was a sophomore in college at the time. That was the last time I voted for the ratsocrat candidate for president, but, baby, I’m pulling the lever for obama!

Seems like I’ve read “the party left me” a lot lately, but it wasn’t Enrico being quoted. You won’t be reading about him any more than you will about “Ralph”… or about Dear Husband (DH), who voted early yesterday.

DH, I think, is the most telling vote of all, because he’s had a really tough time with this decision. In addition to generally sharing Enrico’s views, he has additional concerns about Obama’s foreign policy — concerns that were somewhat assuaged, interestingly, by the Powell endorsement.

Unlike Enrico, though, DH has never, ever pulled the lever for a Democrat for President — yet he voted early yesterday.

For Obama.

None of this is to say that I think Obama will carry Texas. He won’t. But the dissatisfaction with the Republicans is both wide and deep, and the prominent defectors stepping forward to say so are merely the tip of an iceberg.

You won’t hear about these other folks, though — and the louder the partisan attacks are on those who do speak out, the quieter these unknown voters will likely be. Individually, you’ll never read about them… but they’re definitely out there.

And they’re already voting.